A routine press gaggle at Joint Base Andrews turned into anything but Wednesday morning when President Donald Trump used a Fox News correspondent’s question as a launching pad to publicly threaten her fiancé — a sitting Republican congressman — in front of the entire White House press corps.
Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News senior White House correspondent, had attempted to ask Trump whether he had placed a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president ignored the question entirely and instead launched into a pointed rebuke of Heinrich’s fiancé, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
“Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don’t know what’s with him. You better ask what’s with him,” Trump told the assembled reporters.
“She’s married to a certain congressman. He likes voting against Trump,” Trump continued. “You know what happens with that? It doesn’t work out well.”
Trump referred to Fitzpatrick as Heinrich’s husband. A Fox News spokesperson confirmed the two are engaged, not married.
Fitzpatrick, 52, is an attorney and former FBI special agent who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2017, representing Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.
Fitzpatrick represents a district that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. His political positioning as a centrist has put him at odds with the White House on multiple legislative fronts.
Among his breaks with the president, Fitzpatrick voted against Trump’s landmark One Big Beautiful Bill. He also rejected a White House security funding request containing nearly $220 million for Trump’s ballroom renovation project.
Hours after Trump’s public broadside, Fitzpatrick fired back — targeting a controversial new Department of Justice fund that has drawn outrage from both parties.
The $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund was established through a settlement Trump reached with the IRS to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the agency.
According to a DOJ press release, the fund is designed to “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare,” with the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief.
“Bad news. We’re going to try and kill it,” Fitzpatrick declared Wednesday to Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent for MeidasTouch.
“We’re considering legislative options. We’re going to write a letter to the AG to start, but we’re considering a legislative option. We’re trying to unpack what exactly the legal machinations are but — he can’t do that,” Fitzpatrick said.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, plans to introduce legislation supported by Fitzpatrick stating that “no Federal funds may be used to create or make payments to fund” the Anti-Weaponization Fund.
Fitzpatrick also recoiled at a provision in the DOJ settlement declaring that the IRS is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from prosecuting or pursuing all claims and examinations involving Trump, affiliated individuals, and related trusts and businesses.
Asked whether his legislative effort would target that provision, Fitzpatrick replied, “Of course, yeah, you can’t do that.”
Fitzpatrick was the first Republican to publicly reject the fund outright and vow to stop it, while a number of other Republicans scrambled behind the scenes to learn more about it.
Trump’s threat against Fitzpatrick follows a pattern of successful primary challenges the president has backed against Republicans who defied him.
Fresh off ousting two Republican foes in Kentucky and Georgia, Trump scored another win Tuesday against Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s primary, dislodging one of his most outspoken critics on Capitol Hill. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy also fell to a Trump-backed challenger.
Heinrich, a New England Emmy award winner named General Assignment Reporter of the Year by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, joined Fox News in 2018 and was elevated to senior White House correspondent in June 2024.
Trump has clashed with Heinrich before. He previously called her “absolutely terrible” on Truth Social, adding that she “should be working for CNN, not Fox” following her questioning of his display of Tesla vehicles at the White House.
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